Witness King Tides website

Seafarer - a graphical representation of tidal predictions for Australia and more

Research article: Is there evidence yet of acceleration in mean sea level rise around mainland Australia?

Photos from the Washington project

Report on the NSW King Tide events

What will the Queensland coast look like in the future?

Each summer, high spring tides, known as king tides, demonstrate what our coasts might look like in the future under conditions of sea level rise due to climate change.

During the 2011/12 summer, we encouraged Queenslanders to head out to the coast during the king tide to capture the event and help create a photographic database. Having this visual collection of images could help us be better prepared for a future where sea levels are higher than what they are today. If we can envisage future change, we can plan and prepare for it now.

To avoid confusion, it's important to know that king tides aren't part of climate change; they are a natural part of tidal cycles but they do give us a sneak preview of what higher sea levels could look like.

See the pictures!

The photos have now been uploaded, and can be browsed as a map or in page view.

We are hoping to run the project again in the future. We would love to see your family, school, or community group get involved and be part of future solutions. To keep in the loop, please sign up for the Witness King Tides e-news.

King Tides Overseas

Photos for other King Tide projects, such as those in California and British Columbia have included waters spilling over roadways and footpaths, overlapping jetties and crashing over protective sea walls.

British Columbia

Between 2009 and 2011, King Tide events have been held in British Columbia with fantastic results. You can see more about that here.

Washington

Running since 2009, the Washington King Tides project has already documented coastal levels along the West coast of America- with more events planned for 2011-2012, see more here.

California

The 2011 - 2012 winter season will be the second year that a king tide photo event is organised in California. Visit the site here.

New South Wales

In January 2009, the world's first broad scale community based king tide photo initiative was undertaken throughout NSW. See the summary report produced by the NSW Government in Useful Links.